ST. LOUIS — Adam Wainwright did everything he could do to earn his 199th career victory on Monday night at Busch Stadium – but there hasn’t been a pitcher yet who could win a game when his team didn’t score.
Wainwright allowed just one run over six innings, his lowest total in his 18 starts this year, but came out of the game with the Cardinals trailing the Padres 1-0 in what would become their fourth consecutive loss.
It was Wainwright’s 10th attempt for that elusive win. In nine of those 10 games, the Cardinals have scored one or no runs in eight of them.
Wainwright blanked the Padres through the first five innings before giving up an RBI single to former teammate Matt Carpenter with two outs in the sixth. It was Carpenter’s first career hit off Wainwright, whom he faced three times in a game last year while with the Yankees.
The Cardinals scored their only run on a home run by Paul Goldschmidt in the eighth inning, which snapped a streak of 22 consecutive scoreless innings over their last three games.
The loss was their sixth in their last seven games and dropped the Cardinals 20 games below .500 for the first time since the final week of the 1995 season. Their worst record at any point that season was 23 games below .500.
Here is how Monday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals managed only two hits through seven innings against Blake Snell, a leadoff single by Jordan Walker in the third inning and a leadoff single by Goldschmidt in the fourth … They failed to take advantage of five walks, including back-to-back walks that loaded the bases in the fourth. Andrew Knizner and Walker struck out to leave the three runners on base … The Cardinals have the lowest batting average in the majors (.176) with the bases loaded this season … Goldschmidt’s homer was his 22nd of the season … Their four runs over the last four games have all scored on home runs.
On the mound: Wainwright pitched around three singles and two walks through the first five innings. He allowed back-to-back singles to open the sixth and after Carpenter’s hit and a double by Gary Sanchez, was able to get out of a bases-loaded jam that kept it a 1-0 game … Garrett Cooper drove in the final three San Diego runs with a single in the seventh off Andre Pallante and another single which drove in two runs off Jacob Barnes in the ninth.
Key stat: In the 22 innings in which they were shut out, covering parts of their last three games, the Cardinals had just five hits and struck out 26 times, including nine strikeouts in seven innings against Snell. Overall during the four-game streak they have 14 hits in 36 innings with 46 strikeouts.
Worth noting: During their four-game losing streak the fifth through ninth-place hitters in the Cardinals lineup were a combined 6-of-62. Overall in the four games the team was 1-of-17 with runners in scoring position … Walker recorded his sixth outfield assist of the season, throwing out Xander Bogaerts at third base in the sixth inning … Carpenter was making only his second start for the Padres since July 23 … Before the game the Cardinals activated Drew VerHagen from the bereavement list and optioned James Naile to Memphis … Matthew Liberatore is scheduled to make a rehab start Tuesday night in Memphis.
Looking ahead: Zack Thompson will get the start in the second game of the series, set for a 6:45 p.m. first pitch on Tuesday night.
